Google Inc. for years swore it wasn't interested in creating content, choosing instead to point people to information on the Web. Google also championed the vox populi, letting crowd-sourced opinions bubble to the top when users search for answers online.

Slowly, though, the experts have been moving up in Google's eyes, and its business.

On Monday, Google said it is acquiring the Frommer's travel-guide business in a bid to attract more advertising dollars tied to online-travel bookings and local-business information. Google is buying Frommer's from publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Google paid around $25 million for Frommer's, according to a person briefed on the deal, which hasn't yet closed. But the deal is more significant for its strategy than its price tag.

By owning Frommer's travel-guide content and showing it in search results, Google could sell travel-related ads against it and provide more tools for people to book travel arrangements.

The Frommer's deal follows Google's 2011 acquisition of Zagat Survey, whose reviews and ratings of millions of businesses have since been incorporated into Google+ local-business listings. Google said Monday that the Frommer's brand would be melded with the Zagat brand. Frommer's data about local businesses around the world could boost the Google+ business listings